I may have to upgrade to Catalina

[Prime Mover]

I wasn't really paying attention when the Catalina thread was going, I'm very slow to upgrade. Unfortunately, I just got a new iMac in my rig for work, and it's obviously going to come pre-installed. It's not going to be my audio computer, but it will have to network cleanly with my audio computer, and share some FCPx projects (which Apple always ties the updates to the OSs... grrrrr). So it may require me upgrading both. Anything I should note? I know I'm going to lose 32Lives, and I've made my peace with that. Anything else?

[bayswater]

If the new iMac was release before Catalina, it might run Mojave. If so, you might be able to add a volume (not a partition) to the internal drive, and install Mojave on it. That will take up roughly 10G on the drive.

I have this arrangement on my 2018 Mini like this, one volume with Mojave and one with Catalina. Although the apps are all installed on the Mojave drive, those I've tried will run from the Catalina drive, although some require authorization on the Catalina drive separately from what they have on the Mojave drive. Some Apple apps are a PITA. If I start in Calatina, it goes searching for Apple files on the Mojave drive and tries to update them.

If this all works you can install your important apps on the Mojave drive and use that. You'll always have Catalina there when it's time to switch.

[Prime Mover]

Eh, I figured I'm going to have to do it at some time anyway. Is there are particular reason I should avoid Catalina now? It might be a good time to switch if not.

[bayswater]

I suppose you are going to get Catalina anyway with a new Mac one way or another. If you like what it does, you're done. If not, you may still have the option of putting Mojave on it. As I said I have both and as far as I have tested things, they work with both OS versions other than a few plugins I hardly ever used. I found Catalina itself a bit clunky and annoying, and it seems to have suffered from poor QA during it's development cycles.

[Prime Mover]

I'm just now seeing that Catalina doesn't play nice with the Korg Legacy Collection. My main lead sound uses that. Ima freakin. Think I'm not gonna. Going to try to keep Mojave on my old computer.

Actually, my plan had been to CarbonCopyCloner the drive on my old computer to the new one. I feel a little uneasy about that though.

[mikehalloran]

Actually, my plan had been to CarbonCopyCloner the drive on my old computer to the new one. I feel a little uneasy about that though.

Not for this. You will need to wipe the drive with an OS 10.14.6 installer—it can be a USB external drive or even a thumb drive. Use Migration Assistant on the new machine to import your files and settings from the old Mac. Even better is a Time Machine Restore after the install.

No iMac updates have been released since October so you may be able to install Mojave by making a USB installer and restoring from Time Machine. The latest MacBooks, Minis and MacPros cannot since their releases were post Catalina. If you plan to do this, it must be done as soon as you get it. If this screws up, an Internet Restore will reset the factory configuration.

You can bring over an older backup but not one that's newer than the OS. This means that Time Machine restore done in Mojave cannot override Catalina. You must install Mojave first, then do the restore. If not planning to go backwards, this is not an issue.

I have Catalina on a test machine. Still holding out hope that my last two remaining 32 bit apps will update before I upgrade but, if they don't, I'll live.

As for DP and plugs, you already know that 32Lives won't work. A number of VSTs won't Authorize while the AUs in the same package do. You'll likely deal with Unidentified Developers messages a lot but once you learn the workarounds to open an App once, you'll be good and won't see that again till you upgrade the app and reset the flag.

[CharlzS]

I'm just now seeing that Catalina doesn't play nice with the Korg Legacy Collection. My main lead sound uses that.

Kork came up with a series of updates last month along with the Korg Software Pass which brings everything up to 64 bit. The plugs have been 64 bit but the stand alone apps were still 32 bit until the last update. That may have been the problem with Catalina that you're referencing. Also If you haven't tried the new Triton plug, it's worth looking at. One problem with the Korg stuff that I have is that the Arp Odyssey won't pass DP inspection regardless of OS release.

[Guitar Gaz]

Kork came up with a series of updates last month along with the Korg Software Pass which brings everything up to 64 bit. The plugs have been 64 bit but the stand alone apps were still 32 bit until the last update.

I haven't found any update last month for Korg Software (I have the Legacy products of Wavestation and M1). Where did you see these updates?

[Phil O]

Even better is a Time Machine Restore after the install.

Mike, I haven't used Time Machine much (mostly it just sits there and does its thing), so I'm not that familiar with it's operation. Can you use it to restore the OS to a drive other than the boot drive, essentially creating a new boot drive?

Your friendly neighborhood Phil

[CharlzS]

I haven't found any update last month for Korg Software (I have the Legacy products of Wavestation and M1). Where did you see these updates?

You can download the Korg Software Pass here: https://id.korg.com/static_pages/3
The individual upgrades should be listed in your Korg ID account also.
If you didn't convert your Korguser.net ID to a Korg ID, I think you can still convert from https://korguser.net.

[Guitar Gaz]

You can download the Korg Software Pass here: https://id.korg.com/static_pages/3
The individual upgrades should be listed in your Korg ID account also.
If you didn't convert your Korguser.net ID to a Korg ID, I think you can still convert from https://korguser.net.

That is really helpful - thank you - this was not at all obvious from their website.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Thanks for the Korg links from me as well!

[mikehalloran]

Even better is a Time Machine Restore after the install.

Mike, I haven't used Time Machine much (mostly it just sits there and does its thing), so I'm not that familiar with it's operation. Can you use it to restore the OS to a drive other than the boot drive, essentially creating a new boot drive?

Your friendly neighborhood Phil

Yes but... It cannot overwrite a later OS than on the boot drive. The drive must be wiped and reformatted first. This is not the issue in a normal TM Restore where the latest backup OS is the same.

[bayswater]

It cannot overwrite a later OS than on the boot drive.

But is there anything stopping you from creating a new volume and installing a different OS version on that volume? I've done that, adding a Catalina volume to a drive with Mojave installed. But would I have been able to do it the other way around? (assuming of course, the mac is able to run both versions).

If so, this an efficient solution because it only uses the space necessary to store the new OS version, not the space required for an entire partition.

[Prime Mover]

I've been drooling over the Triton VI. But at $250 without a discount for former KLC owners? Something feels really wrong there. With M1 and Wavestation, they gave huge discounts when they were released.